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Courage
Tomorrow I begin radiation therapy at the MMC radiation oncology center. My head will be fixed to a padded table with a form-fitting plastic mesh mask, and my feet bound together with a rubber band....
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Hey All, We have launched into our new normal: swallow the chemo pills 1 hour prior, drive down Cumberland Ave to Maine Medical Center, use the special card to enter the small private parking lot, take...
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I had the second of 30 radiation treatments today, plus the second chemo dose. So far, so good: brief, mild twinges of pain, no nausea, and ample energy.
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Radiation
I once met a Missourian whose prescription for healthy hygiene was “shit, shower and shave.” Mine now includes having my head secured to a table and irradiated. Fortunately, Maine Medical Center has...
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Avastin
Intravenous treatment with Avastin (bevacizumab) on July 1, 2011 I had my first treatment of Avastin yesterday at the Maine Center for Cancer Medicine in Scarborough. Avastin (generically known as...
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Sand and Gold
I shape the world in sand and water. It is a solitary, momentary and minor world, hewn coarsely by hoe. A modest cut in a bank of soaked sand bears an eager stream to a falling tide. An excavation...
View ArticleGary Carter
I have no love for the 1986 Mets. But now that Hall-of-Fame catcher Gary Carter has been diagnosed with malignant brain cancer, the memory of his team’s dream-crushing victory has an added dimension....
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The $800 Puke
A 250 mg Temodar capsule costs about $800 I started my new Temodar prescription last night: 250 mg per day for five days. The dose was doubled from the six-week radiation period. I wasn’t worried about...
View ArticleMarinol
Nausea. It feels like someone reached down my throat, grabbed my stomach and pulled it out through my mouth. The Temodar is getting to me, finally. The first three of five straight days of 340 mg are...
View ArticleDavid Hallowell
It’s easy to forget that we’re not just customers of our doctors. We are also the substance of their lessons and discoveries. Yet even in the course of demonstrating a medical triumph with our own...
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